


Now or Never: Understanding

by taibhrigh



Series: Now or Never [3]
Category: Stargate - All Series, The Losers, The Losers (2010)
Genre: Crossover, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-28
Updated: 2011-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-15 04:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/156885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taibhrigh/pseuds/taibhrigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is part three of my <em><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/5546">Now or Never</a></em> series.</p><p>Cougar and Jensen begin to realize just what they've gotten themselves into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now or Never: Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [siluria](http://archiveofourown.org/users/siluria) for the beta.

The nurse handed Cougar a small device that looked a little like a spinning top. It lit up faintly. The nurse nodded and then handed it to Jensen. The device lit up brighter than it had for Cougar. The nurse smiled and tapped her medtablet with a stylus before walking away.

"What do you think that was about?"

Cougar shrugged.

Jensen watched the nurse retreat back to her station before beginning to tell Cougar everything he could remember about the layout of the Apollo. He was pouring both him and Cougar a glass of water when a Marine--so the nurse had been correct and Jensen wrinkled his nose--handed him three DVDs before pushing a button on the wall that lowered a small flatscreen television near Cougar's bed. Jensen slid the DVD labeled Volume One into the slot and hit play.

Dr. Jackson appeared on the screen smiling standing in front a large metal circle. "Hello. I am Doctor Daniel Jackson and behind me is a Stargate. It was originally built millennia ago by an alien race that we call the Ancients. Over the next few hours we'll be touching on…"

"Did he just say hours?" Jensen asked. "Do you think that's just for this DVD or for all of them?"

Cougar shushed him and they both listened as the archaeologist explained where the gate had come from, where it was found, what the symbols meant.

"Woah! Hold up!" Jensen jumped up from his seat and pushed a couple buttons on the side of the television so he could replay the scene showing the stargate in action. Jackson's voice picked up in mid sentence, "…when a connection is made between two stargates an unstable energy vortex emerges from the Gate and settles into the event horizon, or puddle as we like to call it. Later, it was discovered that an eighth symbol would actually dial another galaxy hundreds of thousands of light years away via an interstellar wormhole, but more on that later."

As Daniel Jackson continued to speak Jensen leaned in and got so caught up with what he was learning that almost everything else dropped away. He continued to nod, comment, or answer Cougar, but other than that it was all about the knowledge that was just hinted at in the speech Jackson was giving and the tech that glinted in some of the footage.

Some point during the second DVD lunch trays were brought in, eaten and cleared all without comment. Then came the two folders with their names and the words "top secret" stamped in red across the front. They were each nearly an inch thick and contained regulations and non-disclosure document after document. They paused the DVD long enough to skim through the documents, initialed and signed where needed. Jensen wasn't one hundred percent sure he hadn't just signed his life and Cougar's hat away to the Stargate Program.

The third DVD started with Daniel Jackson saying: "Dialing the gate with the eighth symbol engaged has given us the chance to explore the Pegasus Galaxy where we found the sunken city of Atlantis and one of the early homes of the Ancients, the gate builders. Like in the Milky Way we have made friends and found new enemies."

This first images were of what was clearly a stargate but the rings didn't move and the gate seemed cleaner, brighter to Jensen. The images cut to footage obviously taken from a ship coming in for a landing. It circled a beautiful city of glass and tall buildings. Cut to more scenes of labs and technology all while Jackson unfolded the mission that was Atlantis. "Atlantis is the size of a small city and at the time of this recording housed more than five hundred military and civilian contractors from at least seven nations," Jackson said while walking up a blue-lit set of stairs.

The overview of the Atlantis mission continued including images and videos of the native populations. Then Jackson began describing the Wraith and Jensen tilted his head at the screen not totally believing what he was seeing even as a Scottish voice started describing the biology of the wraith.

"Is that Marilyn Manson?"

"Jake," Cougar said in what Jake always took as Cougar's "shush this is important" voice.

"I'm serious Cougar. I mean, okay, the teeth and the vampire hand aside, but the long leather coat, white hair, pale skin. And okay, that's just gross. How exactly do you kill those things? I mean they fired an entire clip from a P-90 into it and it got up."

"Jake."

Jake rewound the section and sat quietly as the voice over given by the Scottish doctor was repeated. When the doctor was finished with his voice over Jake stopped the DVD.

"Umm."

Cougar just raised an eyebrow at him and waited for him to continue.

"So, we might have alien DNA because I'm pretty sure that's what the nurse was testing with that top thingy earlier. And there are space vampires. And we could die." Jake crossed his arms over his chest. "But spaceships! Atlantis and aliens! But I'm not sorry I brought you here because they saved your life and you can play your little Duck Hunt Snipe game with the evil space vampires who apparently live on our life force. You're not mad are you?"

"No."

"No?"

Cougar shook his head and without the hat Jake could see the other man roll his eyes. "We are both alive," Cougar said softly. "Everything else we can deal with together."

The clearing of a throat had them both glancing towards a short man with glasses and wild-looking hair who was carrying two laptops with the Atlantis emblem on the top.

"Dr. Zelenka," Jake greeted.

Zelenka gave him a perplexed look until the scientist noticed the video frozen on the television screen. "Ah, yes. I see. Those new _Welcome to the Stargate Program_ DVDs. Forgot I was in there. These are for you," he said, handing them each a laptop.

"Laptop will get you access to Atlantis and SGC network. Basic needs are on toolbar. Configure as you wish." Zelenka straightened his glasses before continuing. "Mr. Jensen will be reporting to me and Dr. Miko Kusanagi when not involved on field missions. She will be your advisor to finish your doctorate."

Jake's fingers that had been stroking the top of the laptop froze. "Huh? What?"

"In papers you signed." Zelenka grinned. "General is clever man. Keep the hacking to a minimum."

Cougar chuckled.

"Field missions and team assignments are normally handled by Major Lorne. And he seems quite giddy to be getting a sniper of your caliber, Mr. Alvarez."

"Just Alvarez or Cougar," Cougar quietly commented.

Zelenka nodded. "We've also been told you have ear for languages and read Latin. The linguists will flock to you."

Cougar made a face and Jake laughed.

Before anyone else could continue the nurse appeared for evening rounds and sent Jake back to his bed while Zelenka fled on his own without being told. Wounds were inspected and bandages changed. The nurse backed up a few steps and stood between the two beds so both occupants could see her.

"Your dinner will be here in fifteen minutes. Stay in bed or computers are gone. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," they both answered and Jake hugged the computer closer to himself. He had no plans of willingly letting this one go.

Dinner wasn't bad. The food was definitely better than what Jake had eaten on base; even if the mashed potatoes had been purple. Which, honestly, he thought was cool especially when he'd found out they were from the Pegasus Galaxy. They finished the DVD, which gave them a quick rundown of the chain of command and let them put faces to names and voices they had seen and heard throughout the DVDs.

Cougar dozed while Jake busied himself with his laptop. There was an email from a Sgt. Harriman informing him that he had been given an advance on his salary and issued a bankcard. If he wished to order anything to take with him to Atlantis--civilian clothing, books, glasses, etc--he could do so now and have them shipped express to the routing address used by Atlantis personnel. That was about when it fully hit Jake that he and Cougar were really starting over. Their old lives were gone and the only things they had were what they beamed aboard with.

Jake wondered if Cougar had seen the email, as that had been the last program Jake had opened even though the icon said he'd had new mail. Jake had been all about checking the specs on the machine and setting things up how he liked. Whereas Cougar had only used his old laptop to check email and fill out after-action reports, which was probably all he'd use the new one for as well.

"Cougs?" Jake asked quietly

Cougar turned his head, but didn't open his eyes. "Go to sleep, Jake. You can thinkgeek tomorrow."

Jake grinned and closed the lid on the laptop. Cougar knew him so well and for that, Jake was very grateful.

**Author's Note:**

> Some of Daniel Jackson's DVD dialogue is taken from the _Stargate: Universe_ episode _Air_.


End file.
